Disney wants you: brand turns to user-generated content

Among classics like Mickey and Goofy, and recent additions Hannah Montana and the Jonas brothers, Disney is looking for a new star.

It could be you.

Disney’s new marketing strategy for 2011, announced Thursday, will be focused around user-generated content, Reuters reports.

The campaign, dubbed “Let the Memories Begin” by the company, will incorporate photos and videos submitted by visitors to Disney parks and resorts.

“The inspiration for this effort came from our guests. Each and every day people are making memories at our parks, posting them online and sharing them with friends and family,” Leslie Ferraro, evp of global marketing, Disney Destinations, told Reuters.

While the brand has visitors in their ad campaigns previously, this will be the first time the company has used content created by visitors, Ferraro said.

The submitted content will be used by the company, according to USA Today, in print and TV ads, as well as social media campaigns.

The first ad will be shown Friday on the Today Show, Reuters reports, featuring a collage of happy children at Disney parks.

Starting this week, visitors will be able to upload photos, videos and other content through Disneyparks.com/memories and the Walter Disney World and Disneyland Facebook pages. The submissions will be moderated before display.

Disney also plans to use pictures taken daily by Disney PhotoPass photographers by projecting the candids into the night sky at Walt Disney World and Disneyland. Disney has estimated that as many as 500 photos will be shown daily.

The next time you visit the “happiest place on earth,” take a look in the sky. You might just see your smiling face.